What I’ve learned from all those years of Roundup reading is that what’s on the bottle, like most advertising, is not the whole story. Getting the rest of the story is not nearly as easy as getting the part of the story that’s on the bottle, but here’s a start:

1. What the Roundup bottle says: “fast & easy”

The rest of the story: Roundup, like most pesticides, is good at killing pests. But that doesn’t mean it solves weed problems. As any gardener knows, there’s no shortage of other weeds to take a dead weed’s place. “Fast & easy” really means “fast & easy over and over and over again.” Long-term “fast and easy” weed management means creating landscapes that don’t encourage weeds. Want more specifics? Cornell University has detailed suggestions of what you can do to create a garden/landscape that doesn’t encourage weeds.

2. What the Roundup bottle says: “targets an enzyme found in plants, but not in people or pets”

One last example: European researchers who looked at which herbicides were responsible for pet poisonings found that being exposed to Roundup and its chemical cousins after they were sprayed was the second most common cause.

3. What the Roundup bottle says: “breaks down into natural materials without moving in or on the soil”

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3 Comments

Use distilled white vinegar for weed control. Pour a little directly on weed stem where it meets the ground. In a day, the weeds are brown and dead. Works great on driveway seams, sidewalk joints, or anywhere weeds are unwanted. It costs less than $3/gallon. It is available at any grocery store. It has absolutely no adverse affects to humans, animals or the environment.
Check out thousands of uses of vinegar to replace toxic, poisonous, harzardous & deadly chemicals the market promotes.

I work in a seasonal resort town that has visitors from all over- Every year Canadians come to the store I work in that sells lawn chemicals and wipe us out-
I did not realize that it is illegal to use weed killers, and other lawn chemicals in Canada,
that they are not allowed to sell them there, so when
they go on vacation they go to beach towns they like &
buy chemicals illegal in Canada- Vinegar does have thousands of uses, and weed killing is just one- Many
“organic” products are also toxic to all life forms
which is why somethng like vinegar or even boiling H2O
is a much safer way to go

[...] a scientist who leads the pesticide research at Center for Environmental Health. Entitled “Why You Shouldn’t Use Roundup (Or Trust Its Labels),” it’s one of the most accessible articles about why it’s not a good idea to use [...]

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